Revealed: How Woodward stopped Man Utd acquiring two huge names

Oli Fisher
Ed Woodward TEAMtalk

The decision of Ed Woodward to snub the appointment of Luis Campos played a part in them missing out on Nicolas Pepe, it is claimed.

The Gunners have won the race to sign the Ivorian winger – despite only paying the Ligue 1 side a bargain £20m up front.

Pepe is thought to have agreed a five-year deal at Arsenal worth an estimated £130,000 a week, and will form a new look attacking partnership with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette this season.

However Duncan Castles believes that both Lille director Luis Campos and Pepe could be at Old Trafford by now if Woodward hadn’t chosen to go in a different direction.

United decided against appointing a director of football, with Woodward still in charge of overseeing transfers at present.

“There’s another irony in all of this in that Campos is a friend of Jose Mourinho’s, worked for Mourinho at Real Madrid as both a tactical scout and a talent scout,” Castles said on Reach Plc’s Transfer Window podcast (via the Star).

“And when that discussion at Manchester United happened about ‘we need a director of football to improve our transfer-market policy, to get better recruitment, to get better value out of the large amount of resource we have to spend in the transfer market and change the structure of the club’, the individual that Mourinho recommended to Ed Woodward as a director of football he’d be prepared and happy to work with was Luis Campos.

“I understand Campos was very interested in that and would have liked the opportunity to explore the possibility of working with Manchester United.

“But Ed Woodward and his wisdom decided that he didn’t want to interview that man.

“Obviously United briefed extensively that they would have a director of football in place for this transfer window.

Nicolas Pepe TEAMtalk

“There is no director of football in place. The transfers are still controlled ultimately by Ed Woodward.

“The contrast there is obvious and questions will be asked about why United turned down that opportunity to speak to an individual who’s broadly regarded as one of the best in the business at what he does.

“And why if they turned down that opportunity they haven’t got who they thought would be a better alternative in place for what everyone sees as a pivotal transfer window for Manchester United and one that’s clearly not guaranteed to have an ideal resolution as matters stand at present.”

 

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